Squash a bug?

I was just washing my hands in the bathroom at my work. As I was drying my hands, a small winged insect landed on the wall. I used a paper towel to squash the bug, and tossed it into the trash with the paper towel. Afterwards, I thought to myself, was that necessary/proper/cruel? That bug wasn't bothering me. It's like I've been trained to squash bugs. Should I have let this bug live another day (or until the next guy went in and squashed him)?

Quote: Scot

I was just washing my hands in the bathroom at my work. As I was drying my hands, a small winged insect landed on the wall. I used a paper towel to squash the bug, and tossed it into the trash with the paper towel. Afterwards, I thought to myself, was that necessary/proper/cruel? That bug wasn't bothering me. It's like I've been trained to squash bugs. Should I have let this bug live another day (or until the next guy went in and squashed him)?

There is a weird thing at play here, one that I see all the time. It's training, I guess. Perhaps a hold over from when bugs and rodents actually had the power to do in entire civilizations.

I won't lie, I consciously judge people who engage in "buggery". If you're on your couch and shoe away a housefly buzzing around your head, you're pretty normal. If you break out chairs to stand on and engage in warfare to eliminate it from your home, I start to question your psychological health. If you do this same thing on, say, an outdoor patio or your back yard, I have serious concerns ;)

Of course, on the other end of the spectrum, there are guys like me. Housefly? Catch it and release it outside. Male mosquito, those giant ones? Catch and release. Spiders, earwigs, bees, whatever, catch and release. Female mosquitoes and deer flies are about the only things that feel my wrath, as the mosquito whine drives me mad and deer flies hurt like a sonofabitch.

I have mice in my garage right now. I can hear that bastard chewing on my car parts and every now and again see him running around. Once it warms a little bit I'll set up my tank and capture him, and then I'll take him out into the woods. What can I say, I gotta make up for those guys with the glue traps =/

Although I'm not at all religious, I use a biblical reference for this sort of thing.

Bugs had no place on Noah's Ark. As such you have no religious obligation towards them.


Furthermore, many carry disease, so, in a way, you're practicing self-defense by squashing them.

Squash away.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Although I'm not at all religious, I use a biblical reference for this sort of thing.

Bugs had no place on Noah's Ark. As such you have no religious obligation towards them.

As Archie Bunker said, flies (bugs) don't go to heaven as who would want to go to heaven if it was filled with flies.

Quote: Face

I won't lie, I consciously judge people who engage in "buggery".

My girlfriend used to playfully use the term "filthy buggers", until I informed her of the real meaning of "buggery".

Buggery

We can all claim to have a reverence for life, but that usually means a reverence for our life and our lifestyle. Hurricane Katrina sent a bunch of drunken drug-addict bug stompers across a bridge into the path of bullets fired by non-stomping White property owners. Dogs turn around three times before lying down so as to avoid lying on insects. Cats were probably first domesticated because they attack crawling and flying insects in a home.

We have different opinions of squirrels than we do of rats, yet they are also rodents. We tend to have different opinions of people who feed squirrels than people who feed rats.

In response to one member's post in his hunting blog of a big strong well-armed man's encounter with a Bobcat, I've already posted the story of a 116 pound thirty-something female and her interaction with a Bobcat at ten paces. One man in a small fishing skiff encountered a disoriented deer swimming in the Gulf of Mexico and rescued it despite the physical effort and non insignificant danger.

We venture into the woods to experience nature but still take bug spray and kill every mosquito in the tent despite the damage that the deet is probably doing to a sleeping toddler. Farmers and gardeners who atleast understand bugs will still react differently to finding one in their home than in their garden. Hippie chicks swoon at the mere mention of "composting" despite the fact that it uses earthworms which by definition are an invasive species in the USA.

Insects can be small, swift and harbor unknown pathogens. There are some medical personnel who swear it is impossible in the USA to get blood from an adult that has not been infected. Heck, some pathogens have been found in Triple Distilled Water about to be utilized in a hospital transplant room. So fears of insects are not necessarily without a foundation. We have different reactions to a woman's beagle bringing home an errant fawn. Some states make it illegal to harbor it while others do not. Yet deer tick parasites are a threat to the citizens of all states.

Until the 1950's the legal tolerance for insects or insect parts in imported pepper was fifty percent so its not that we really have to avoid insects or have to kill them but we sometimes take great pleasure in the hunt.

Hard to follow Flea or Paco in any thread, and this one is no different. However, I save spiders, butterflies, ladybugs, anole (lizards) and snakes by throwing them out the door; after that they're on their own. I shoo armadillos and possums, pick worms off the sidewalk after a rain and put them in the dirt. And I don't make roadkill, though I am resolved to kill the unfortunate animal that would cause me to swerve into another car; I've just been lucky so far, though I came really close to taking out a big stag in Snoqualmie Pass 20+ years ago.

Flies, cockroaches, mosquitos...kill 'em all. Circle of life be damned; but not with chemicals. Trap rodents; yes, but with killing traps, not glue traps. Quick and clean.

A few winters ago, some mice found their way into our new house, and I was pissed (because my house was new, WTF). Because I was on the road 90% of the time back then, I really had no defense except mouse "killing" traps and I put in steel wool to the places I thought they were entering the house (through the garage).

I killed three mice but I was surprised to find two living ones in a live trap that I bought but thought wouldn't work. I was sure proud when I released them a few miles away, felt good about myself!

Insects in my house but spiders and honeybees (which I never see) in my house get killed. Spiders are on a catch and release program. Bees are shood to the screen door and released.

Quote: boymimbo

A few winters ago, some mice found their way into our new house, and I was pissed (because my house was new, WTF). Because I was on the road 90% of the time back then, I really had no defense except mouse "killing" traps and I put in steel wool to the places I thought they were entering the house (through the garage).

I killed three mice but I was surprised to find two living ones in a live trap that I bought but thought wouldn't work. I was sure proud when I released them a few miles away, felt good about myself!

Insects in my house but spiders and honeybees (which I never see) in my house get killed. Spiders are on a catch and release program. Bees are shood to the screen door and released.

Good man =)

I've become extra sensitive about bees what with the dangers they (and as a result, We) are in over the pesticides. Remember that bees are highly sensitive to UV light. Trying to shoo them out a door that leads to the garage may be difficult, as the garage is shaded and darkened. The easiest thing in the world is to block or lessen all light except that of the portal you want them to exit. Pull curtains or blinds on all windows except one which you leave cracked open, and the little bugger will make a "bee line" (I'm terrible ;)) right out of doors.